1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to commercial packaged merchandise dispensing devices such as vending machines, J-hook package mounted, and the like; and more particularly to an apparatus for displaying and dispensing such merchandise in a theft deterring manner.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Hardy et al, US 2005/0161420 and US 2006/0240398, discloses a system for managing and securing product and deterring theft in a retail setting, which includes a system that resides either on a standard retailer shelf or may be a stand-alone system. The system includes shelves, product dividers and front retaining walls of a height and position to inhibit access to displayed products. Individual taller retaining tabs may be added in front of taller product to inhibit access. Rigid or moveable barriers may be positioned above retaining walls to further restrict access. Thus, with the invention, the “sweeping” of numerous products by a thief is deterred.
Mason, US 2007/0080123, discloses a shelf unit for displaying products in a space-saving manner which includes brackets for securing to a support and a tray extending between the brackets. The tray has a front portion with edges arranged so that adjacent edges are disposed at alternating angles to form a saw-tooth pattern. A face portion configured to conform to the front portion is disposed over the front portion and has a window for viewing a product disposed behind the window. Adjustable partitions are disposed on the tray and define rows for displaying the products. A biasing mechanism biases the products in the row toward a front of the shelf unit. Each biasing mechanism has a biasing element and a slidable product advancing member. The products are arranged in adjacent rows at alternating angles to form a saw-tooth pattern corresponding to the edges of the front portion of the tray.
Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,128, discloses a display and dispensing device comprising a clamp bracket including confronting upper and lower arms joined by a knee portion along their leading edges and being resiliently urged toward each other, said clamp bracket being adapted to embrace a shelf between said arms, a latching arm pivotally mounted on said lower bracket arm posterior to the leading edge thereof and having a forwardly directed free end swingable toward and away from said bracket upper arm, spring means urging said latching arm to its upper position and a longitudinally extending tray disposed below and secured to said bracket.
Schlaf, U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,217, discloses a machine for displaying and dispensing bagged products that includes a rectilinear housing which is open at its top and at one end. The opposite end of the housing is closed and supports three helices, two of which extend through the upper portion of the housing adjacent to the sides thereof, while the third is centered with respect to the two upper helices but is located below them and rests on the bottom wall of the housing. The three helices are connected through a drive train at the closed end of the housing and rotate at the same angular velocity. An electric motor drives a hub forming part of the drive train and thereby rotates the three helices. The bags are fitted between the convolutions of the three helices with the upper helices engaging the sides of the bags and the lower helix engaging the bottom of the bags, and accordingly the bags are arranged in an orderly succession and display in an upright position. One full revolution of the helices drives the endmost bag out of the open end of the housing, thus dispensing that bag, and advances each of the remaining bags one convolution.
Fors, U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,598, discloses an arrangement in display and storage racks with swingable frames particularly for easily stolen and difficultly displayed articles, including at least one shelf space, having means for preventing unauthorized removal of the articles from the rack. The means comprise projections or flanges projecting from the upper and lower portions of the shelf space and over the edge portions of the article, at least one of said projections being movable vertically such that an article is removable from the shelf space after the flange has first been displaced to a position outside the edge portion of the article.
Olson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,119, discloses an apparatus for dispensing small items. A removable dispensing tray has a spiral ejector, each coil of which is loaded with one item. The dispensing tray is placed in position on its dispensing station, which station has a drive motor to rotate the spiral ejector. Upon an activating signal, the motor rotates the ejector one time, causing one item to be dispensed. The dispensing tray includes a tray latching bar which latches to a station latching bar to hold the dispensing tray.
Kohls et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,821, discloses a merchandise display and dispensing device that includes a frame which carries at least one shelf. The shelf defines a slot, and the shelf supports a push plate which includes an upstanding section and a guide section oriented parallel to the shelf. The push plate is disposed on the shelf over the slot. Four low friction glides are mounted to the guide section of the push plate to bear on an upper planar surface of the shelf to support the push plate on the shelf and to reduce sliding friction therebetween. First and second guide pins are mounted to the push plate to extend through the slot and thereby guide sliding motion of the push plate on the shelf. The guide pins have enlarged heads sized to bear against the lower surface of the shelf to hold the push plate in place. A spring is mounted between the push plate and the shelf to bias the push plate toward a first end of the slot.
Breslow, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,201, discloses a shelf divider system comprising a divider wall mountable in a channel member secured to the front of a shelf. A spring-urged pusher member is slidably mounted on a track having a pair of rails integral with the divider shaft. In one embodiment, the operationally mounted divider wall is vertically oriented and the pusher member extends horizontally therefrom so that displayed merchandise resets directly on the shelf surface but is automatically urged forwardly by the retracted pusher member. In another embodiment, the track provides the supporting surface for displayed merchandise and a vertical divider wall is integrally formed with the track.
Albright, U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,414, discloses an imposed shelf arrangement for vending tubular products such as cans and the like comprising a tray having a base, a rear panel and a pair of side panels or dividers forming a longitudinally disposed product feed trough having a width equal substantially to twice the length of a tubular product; a helix disposed centrally within said feed trough and adapted to receive a plurality of tubular products between the convolutions thereof in a staggered relationship whereby the inner end of each tubular product is adapted to be disposed along the longitudinal axis of said trough; and a drive unit at the rear of the base for rotating said helix whereby to advance said tubular products one by one to the front edge of said base to drop to a delivery position.
Wolff, U.S. Pat. No. D300,994, discloses a design for a modular dispenser tray.
Hoffman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,986, discloses a vending device for vending machines comprising a spiral coil connected to a coin-operated mechanism that allows rotation thereof and the connected coil when predetermined coins have been inserted into the mechanism. The loops making up the coil comprise closely spaced neighboring loops, remote from the mechanism, capable of supporting and transporting product to be vended as the coil is rotated, and distantly spaced neighboring loops, incapable of supporting the product. As the coil is turned, product is transported toward the mechanism until it reaches the distantly spaced loops where it drops from the spiral into a chute accessible by the purchaser. The mechanism is rotated by coin receivers that are blocked from rotating by spring-urged pawls unless predetermined coins have been inserted therein, or unless disabling tabs are interposed between the receivers and the pawls. Interposition of appropriate tabs permits price changes to be effected by preventing the pawls from stopping the rotation of coin receivers thus disabled.
Siegal, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,941, discloses a file folder conveyor which comprises a rotatable spiral mounted in a base that has opposite ends and has a back wall which extends higher than the front wall such that as the spiral is rotated, files can be moved which rest in the spiral and extend out of the front of the base so that they can be easily removed by a user. The spiral may be driven manually or by a motor means.
Campoli, U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,641, discloses a system for maintaining and dispensing articles in an aseptic environment. The system includes a cabinet of modular units having at least one bank of shelves. Each bank has an open end and a closed end such that the open end is oriented toward a dispensing chute. Each bank contains a plurality of horizontally adjustable shelves laterally disposed in the bank. The shelves are divided by a plurality of dividers to define a series of slots on each shelf. A dispensing chute is located adjacent the open end of the bank and is adapted to provide gravity feed of an article. The articles are feed toward the dispensing chute by a feeding means such as an auger and the leading article is discharged by gravity. The operation of the feed means is controlled by a microprocessor or the like to control the delivery of articles to the dispensing chute. There is also disclosed a prepackaged cartridge of articles for use in the dispensing system.
Halbherr, U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,778, discloses a display dispenser having a disposable molded tray with a thin shell, unibody construction that firmly receives a removable pusher assembly. The tray is formed from a unitary sheet of plastic that forms inner and outer shells. Each shell forms the inside or outside half of a continuous wall around the perimeter of the tray. The two wall halves are integrally joined along a top portion, but otherwise spaced apart to provide a double-walled construction. Each wall has a frusto-conical shape so that the trays nest into each other when stacked. The inner shell has an interior portion with two symmetrical side ledges that support and align the sides of the packages. The top of the package faces forward to show the artistic design on the article such as the paper plates or paper napkins inside. The inner shell has a central recess that snugly receives the unified pusher assembly. A rim extending from the wall and a floor of the recess lay flat on a surface of a shelf.
Brusso et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,180, discloses one of a number of automatic vending machines run by one or more operators which accepts payment for the goods it dispenses by creditable and debitable cash card, also called smart card. The machine includes a currency acceptor that writes on the card the sum in bank notes received by the currency acceptor. With each purchase, the given price of selected and dispensed goods is deducted from the card. The amount of payment received by the currency acceptor and the price charged are recorded by the machine and communicated to an account clearing house that debits the operator's account with the sum received and credits it by the charged price. A large number of goods and service providers using this type of automatic vending machines can accept the same universal card for the convenience of their customers.
The related art described above discloses various types of merchandise dispensing devices that utilize a helical coil to hold and dispense product between coil windings. However, the prior art fails to disclose such a device that utilizes a rod and coil combination, hanging product from the rod between windings and dispensing the product by manually rotating a knob equipped with a noise making mechanism. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.